On the night of June 16, 2024, Derrick A. Dansby-Draine, a 39-year-old Black male from Pembroke Township, Illinois, was found unresponsive with gunshot wounds along the 15400 block of East 4500S Road. Deputies had been dispatched at about 10:23 p.m.; despite efforts at the scene, 39-year-old Derrick A. Dansby-Draine was pronounced dead.
The Kankakee County Coroner later determined that the 39-year-old Black male died of multiple gunshot wounds and classified the death as a homicide.
By late the next morning, investigators announced an arrest. Following a traffic stop just before noon on June 17 in the 12000 block of East Russell Street in Pembroke Township, deputies took 54-year-old Willie C. Felton Sr., of Pembroke Township, into custody in connection with the killing of 39-year-old Derrick A. Dansby-Draine. Authorities reported that the 54-year-old suspect was booked into the Jerome Combs Detention Center on charges including murder/intent to kill or injure, felon possession/use of a weapon/firearm, and controlled-substance trafficking.
The sheriff publicly thanked community members and urged anyone with information to come forward as detectives continued piecing together Derrick A. Dansby-Draine's final moments on June 16.
As of those initial announcements, no additional suspects were named and no broader motive was publicly detailed. The narrative that emerged, late-night gunfire on a rural roadway, a swift identification effort, and a same-day arrest, underscored both the urgency of the investigation and its reliance on witness cooperation, with the reminder that the 54-year-old suspect is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
In the days that followed, Derrick A. Dansby-Draine's death was memorialized among the region's gun-violence losses, while local outlets repeated the plea for tips as the case moved from the roadside scene into the courthouse.
The story of the 39-year-old male from Pembroke Township remains marked by the precise timeline investigators laid out: a Sunday night killing on June 16, 2024, and an arrest announced the next day.
